Some investors are averse to gold because, as Warren Buffett argues, it is an unproductive asset. Whereas equities and property can be useful and provide a return, gold “doesn’t do anything but sit there” and consequently has little inherent value, from Buffett’s point of view. The World Gold Council, however, says investment demand for gold exceeded 1,500 tonnes in 2016. As well as being the second-best year on record for inflows to gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs), sales of coins and bars alsWednesday, December 13, 2017

Many people have now heard of bitcoin and cryptocurrency. And many have heard the term “blockchain” thrown around. But what is this new technology, and why is it such a big deal? How does it work? What other uses for blockchain exist outside of facilitating financial transactions? How does it make traditional banking obsolete?
Blockchain defined
A blockchain is a distributed ledger of transactions that use cryptography to keep exchanges secure. A distributed network of computers verifies orWednesday, December 13, 2017

The debate continues between the SRSrocco Report and CPM Group’s Jeff Christian on the fundamentals of the silver market. After my article, in which I questioned the CPM Group’s exclusion of silver investment demand from their supply and demand analysis, Jeff Christian responded with a comment on my website. I am glad that Mr. Christian responded because it now allows me the opportunity to explain in more detail why I disagree with the CPM Group’s analysis.As I have mentioned before, this has Tuesday, December 12, 2017

We get the same question every time we release a new proprietary GoldSilver product: why should I buy your silver round instead of a standard bullion product like an Eagle?There are several answers to that question—they can be a great way to diversify, they’re unique in the marketplace, and they might reflect values that you share.But the biggest answer of all is this: because you might make a bigger profit.That’s a bold statement, because like most things in life, there are no guarantees. But oMonday, December 11, 2017

There’s nothing like a bargain during the holidays. And here’s an unexpected one even I was surprised to see…It’s not easy to dig up industry-wide data on coin and bar premiums. To do it manually is incredibly time-consuming and then would be out of date as soon as you published it, since premiums always fluctuate.But we’ve snagged both wholesale and retail data from a couple sources. And there’s a very clear message from these statistics: gold bullion is on the SALE rack…Wholesale Prices: PlungSunday, December 10, 2017

Dictatorship (noun): Definition #3: absolute power or authority (Websters); Def. #2: absolute, imperious or overbearing power or control (Random House);Def. #3: Absolute or despotic control or power (American Heritage);Def. #3: Absolute or supreme power or authority (Collins English Dictionary);Def. #1: A type of government where absolute sovereignty is allotted to an individual or small clique (Wikipedia).“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battleSunday, December 10, 2017

If Bitcoin really is like gold, watch out...!
NEW YEAR's DAY 1975 marked a huge turn in the gold market,
writes Adrian Ash at BullionVault.
Forty years after banning it, the US government at last let private citizens own bullion.
Coin shops and banks knew how big this was. So they raced to stock up as 1974 ended.
Friday, December 8, 2017

Bitcoin’s meteoric skyrocketing this year has been astonishing,
captivating traders across the globe. This once-obscure
cryptocurrency has exploded into the world’s hottest market. With
fortunes being won on paper, everyone is talking about bitcoin. But
with its price shooting parabolic, unfortunately this wild ride has
all the hallmarks of a classic popular speculative mania. And those
all end badly, totally collapsing.
In
the annals of financial-market historFriday, December 8, 2017

The bottle-rocket trajectory of bitcoin’s rally has required me to put out increasingly ambitious Hidden Pivot targets several times each day. Currently I am using 18436 to project a top of some sort, although I hesitate to suggest it will be THE top. Actually, I’d be happy merely to see BTC pull back from that number for more than a few hours — as long as it has taken for this vehicle to obliterate Hidden Pivot resistances that we might have expected to contain the jubilation for a few days if Friday, December 8, 2017

There is a Disinformation War taking place in the silver market as certain industry analysis is confusing individuals by purposely disregarding the tremendous impact of rising investment demand. Not only do I find this troubling, but I am also quite surprised how much the silver industry pays attention to this faulty analysis. So, it’s time once again to set the record straight.Setting the record straight has now become a new mission for me at the SRSrocco Report because the amount of disinforFriday, December 8, 2017

There is a general belief, and that is all it is, that state finances fare better in an inflationary environment than a deflationary one. This perception arises from the transfer of wealth from lenders to the state through a devaluation of the currency, which occurs with monetary inflation, compared with the transfer of wealth from the state to its creditors through deflation. The effect is undoubtedly true, even though it is played down by governments, but it ignores what happens to continuing Friday, December 8, 2017

Consider graphs of three markets from the past. These are well known and important markets, but the names, prices and time scales are not shown. They are plotted on linear scales. Note:
Structure: Each market moved progressively more vertical before crashing.
Bubble: Each market bubbled upward to an unsustainable level and collapsed.
Timing: Few predicted the dates or prices for these bubble tops, but many observed their bubble characteristics.
The Public: The charts show that each market movedFriday, December 8, 2017

Over the past couple of weeks, we have been focused on Russia and
their understanding of gold and why gold is going to come back to the
table of regional and/or international trade. It may even make a grand
re-entrance as backing for a national currency or two.
Russia, with her closest ally China, have been making headlines, in
the broader financial world, for close to two years regarding their
acquisitions of gold. Within the smaller gold community these two
nations have been making headlThursday, December 7, 2017

During the 2006-9 financial crisis, a collapse of the global financial system was avoided by massive money printing, guarantees and allowing banks to value assets at cost rather than market, as well as a panic lowering of interest rates from as high as 6% in the US to zero or negative. Bonds issued by eight major countries currently have negative interest rates from 1 & 2 year debt for Italy up to 15 & 30 year debt for Japan, Germany and Switzerland.
GLOBAL LIABILITIES OF $2 QUADRILLION
WhateveThursday, December 7, 2017

For the past few weeks I’ve suggested that a modest US dollar rally against the yen (and thus gold) was due…and now it’s here!
The dollar’s right shoulder rally fits with the US senate’s decision to finally pass some corporate tax cuts. That’s modestly good news for “risk-on” investors.
It’s modest because it comes at a late stage in the business cycle. Many institutional money managers are trimming US stock market holdings. They are investing the proceeds into key Asian markets where corporWednesday, December 6, 2017

I sent this to Chris Powell, GATA, and he asked, what about the “convertibility”?
Apparently, Venezuelan President Madura is following China’s lead, but
instead of a subtle rollout over time as to not cause some kind of
market shake-up, he has decided that now is as good a time as any to
announce the creation of a new digital currency: the Petro, backed by
Venezuela’s gold, oil and diamond reserves.
Venezuela
is creating a digital currency to combat a financial blockade by the
United StaTuesday, December 5, 2017

The investment world has gone mad, Brandon White of Bullion Management Group in Markham, Ontario, says in his weekly video, "This Week in Three Minutes," noting extreme valuations in equity markets and bitcoin and the strange disappearance of market corrections.
White says he has asked the Bank of Canada and other Canadian financial institutions to explain their position on gold as a financial asset. He also announces a contest for a 1-pound silver commemorative coin.
White's video is posted at Tuesday, December 5, 2017

So the perfect 'asset' for this bubble in everything...
BITCOIN blew by another milestone, writes Bill Bonner in his Diary of a Rogue Economist.
Last week, the world's first cryptocurrency hit a new record above $10,000.
It started off the year trading at just $997.
"I can't believe what happened," said a friend.
"I bought $1000 worth in 2012. Bitcoin was trading at about $8 at the time. Then one of the big cryptocurrencMonday, December 4, 2017

Russia is not Venezuela.
I have long argued that most of Venezuela’s monetary issues are due
to their unwillingness to return the gold they received from the Federal
Reserve. Goldman Sachs had offered to acquire Venezuela’s gold, when
the oil market began it’s slide and
OPEC decided to flood the market with oil.
The story line was OPEC was attacking the US shale oil market when this
move actually crushed Russia and Venezuela’s oil market. Venezuela,
eventually, accepted
Goldman’s offerFriday, December 1, 2017

GOLD BULLION prices gave back a rally against the US Dollar on Friday to head for their lowest weekly close in four as European stock markets retreated, relations between Turkey and Nato ally the US worsened again, and Bitcoin rallied 6% below this week's new all-time record high.
Falling back to $1273 per ounce at lunchtime in London, wholesale gold bullion bars began December 10% higher for 2017 to date against the Dollar, but was lower from NFriday, December 1, 2017